


take me back to the start

by isloremipsumafterall



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Femslash February Trope Bingo, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-28
Updated: 2016-02-28
Packaged: 2018-05-23 18:18:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6125743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isloremipsumafterall/pseuds/isloremipsumafterall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Temporal anomalies are just another day for Kathryn Janeway, one she's reliving over and over and over again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take me back to the start

The only good thing about a time loop, Kathryn had decided, was that it gave you unlimited coffee with the knowledge that it could never technically fun out until the time loop had been fixed.

 

“So when we beamed you up you passed through an anomaly and-”

 

“It caused my current state of looping.” Kathryn finished for Harry, shooting him a slightly apologetic smile.

 

He grinned back, “Guess I’ve already explained that to you?”

 

“A few times now.” Kathryn told him, sighing. “And no teleporting me back through the anomaly hasn’t worked, sorry B’Elanna.” She said when she noticed B’Elanna was about to talk. “Any other suggestions?”

 

B’Elanna exchanged a look with Harry and then shrugged, “That was my first one off hand, have I tried anything else?”

 

Kathryn shook her head, “I’m only on the third loop. I’d like to not reach the double digits however so if you and Mister Kim could get on this…”

 

“Right away ma’am,” B’Elanna nodded her head once and then and Harry scurried out, discussing various theories.

 

Kathryn looked at the other surrounding crew members who still sat in the meeting room, looking at her with varying degrees of concern.

 

“Tuvok I think B’Elanna and Kim could use your help. Maybe some Vulcan knowledge will actually get us a solution this time.” Kathryn suggested, thinking it couldn’t hurt and Tuvok inclined his head and stood to leave.

 

“The rest of you can be dismissed too, unless you have any ideas.” Kathryn turned to look at Tom, Chakotay, Neelix, and the Doctor in turn, her gaze settling on Seven who sat closest to her.

 

“Don’t you worry Captain, we’ll think of something,” Neelix assured her, “Why I think there’s an old Talaxian legend about a man who was stuck in time, I’m sure if I told it to B’Elanna and Harry it could inspire them.”

 

“Couldn’t hurt,” Kathryn offered him a strained smile.

 

The Doctor caught on to it and hummed, “Do you feel any physical fatigue during these loops or mental,” He whipped out a tricorder and began scanning her.

 

“Right now I’m feeling annoyance.” Kathryn plainly stated, her patience starting to fray as the Doctor had done this every time as well.

 

“I’m merely trying to ascertain the threat of these loops on your body,” He said, sniffing a little in disdain at her tone.

 

“My apologies, Doctor,” She sighed, “It has been a little taxing already.”

 

“I’ll look over these results and let you know if I see anything.” The Doctor told her and Kathryn refrained from telling him he’d find nothing.

 

Everyone else began to shuffle out of the room until it was just her and Seven left.

 

“Thoughts, Seven?” Kathryn raised an eyebrow at the borg who hadn’t said a word.

 

“Am I correct in deducing we have already had this conversation?” Seven asked straight forwardly and Kathryn chuckled.

 

“Only once before, the time before we were busy trying something else.” Kathryn stood up, resting her hands flat on her back to stretch.

 

Seven raised an eyebrow at her, “You appear to be exhausted. This endeavor is causing you to be fatigue after all.”

 

“Nothing like that I’m afraid,” Kathryn sighed, “Just that beds provided by the Yimitians weren’t the most comfortable.” She was talking of the race on the planet they were still orbiting that she’d been on for a few days while negotiating a deal for some power cells, the one she’d been on while being beamed aboard which had started this latest setback.

 

“Perhaps it would be best for you rest, I am certain B’Elanna or Mister Kim will wake you if they come up with a new plan.”

 

Kathryn’s lips twitched upwards slightly, “Why Seven you sound concerned.” She teased.

 

Seven shifted slightly in her seat, no doubt trying to think if that should be perceived as an insult.

 

Kathryn bit her tongue so she didn’t continue teasing that if she was going to bed she could use the company, something that Seven would ponder over until requesting clarification that Kathryn wasn’t ready to explain yet.

 

“I think I will take your advice,” Kathryn assured her before Seven could parse her previous statement more.

 

She patted Seven on the shoulder as she walked out, heading to her quarters and tediously getting changed into her sleepwear.

 

On the strange feeling she was being watched Kathryn looked up at the ceiling.

 

“Q if this is your doing…” She began in warning but there was no flash of light or amused chuckle in her ear so she brushed it off, slipping into bed and trying to get some sleep.

 

~~

 

When she woke she was on the transporter and Kathryn groaned.

 

“Captain, are you all right?” Harry moved to help her up but Kathryn waved him off.

 

“Fine Mister Kim, just stuck in a temporal loop.”

 

Quietly Kathryn thought it was very telling of the previous adventures that Voyager had been through that Harry only blinked once and then nodded.

 

“What can we do to help?” He asked, hand hovering over his comm badge and ready to page the others of the development.

 

“Good question. I didn’t get any answers in the last loop sadly, but we’ve already tried teleporting me back to the planet through the special anomaly.”

 

“Anomaly?” Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Let’s call the others, explain this again with everyone there.”

 

~~

 

Her previous exhaustion was seeping back in and Kathryn explained her situation yet again, sending everyone off to do their own thing to develop an idea.

 

Everyone except Seven.

 

“Am I correct in deducing we have already had this conversation?”

 

Kathryn nearly snorted in amusement, “Yes Seven.”

 

“Yet by the choices you have made differently I must conclude this one will not have the same outcome as the last, are you all right Captain?”

 

“Fine Seven,” She sighed, “I just wish that nap you suggested last time had actually transferred over.”

 

“Then perhaps you should sleep again this time.” Seven stated and Kathryn waved her hand to brush the suggestion off.

 

“No no, this time I’m going down to help B’Elanna and Harry,” She smiled at Seven, raising her coffee cup to her lips, “I could use the help.”

 

“Very well,” Seven inclined her head, “It would be best for you to use the time to sleep but I will accompany you.”

 

Kathryn nearly choked on her coffee realising how that sentence could be changed easily in an offer to accompany her to sleep.

 

“Is there something wrong, Captain?” Seven raised an eyebrow, noticing Kathryn’s distress.

 

“Everything’s fine” Kathryn’s smile was strained, “Let’s find B’Elanna and Harry shall we.”

 

She put down her coffee cup and led them out in a brisk walk that had anyone asked she might’ve denied.

 

As they reached the turbolift Kathryn broke into a yawn, prompting another look from Seven that she again waved off.

 

Idly she wondered if in the last loop she’d just slept through the whole thing and missed any announcements from any of the others, thinking it a little odd they hadn’t come up with anything and paged her until she was awake.

 

Engineering was quiet when they reached it, Harry and B’Elanna nowhere in sight and Kathryn frowned.

 

“Computer locate Mister Kim and B’Elanna.” She asked and the computer chimed to inform her they were in the mess hall. “Hm, must have thought they could brainstorm over lunch.” Kathryn frowned.

 

“Captain I wish to again inform you that this time might be served with you sleeping. I can wake you if there are any developments.” Seven said by her side, hands clasped behind her back.

 

“I don’t want to miss anything this time Seven. Relax.” She rested her hand on Seven’s shoulder, “I can sleep when these loops are done.”

 

“Very well.” Seven didn’t quite sigh but it was close enough by her standards.

 

Kathryn led them to the kitchen to discuss the situation with the others but it seemed fruitless this loop as they all sat there arguing different tactics and choices they could try.

 

She listened carefully so she could tell them next loop what they had dismissed but made a mental note that if they didn’t attempt anything in that loop to try one of those solutions.

 

“This has been enlightening but I’m afraid I have to go,” Kathryn smiled, mostly to herself, as she looked to see the day was just about to end. She pointed at Harry, “I’ll see you soon Mister Kim.”

 

“What?” Harry asked but that was the last she heard because between one blink and the next Kathryn was back on the transporter pad.

 

“Call the others Harry,” She said, sighing as he rushed over to her side, “There’s a lot we need to discuss.”

 

~~

 

That loop they actually tried something, taking the reading of the tachyons she had coming off her and developing a modified solution on the transporter.

 

Kathryn had never felt the need to know what dying in the vacuum of space was like and when she woke on the transporter she shuddered, vetoing that idea again readily.

 

“You look tense Captain.” Seven said once the others had left the meeting again and Kathryn ran a hand through her hair.

 

“It wasn’t a fun situation to be in,” Kathryn snorted at the understatement, ‘I just hope that Harry and B’Elanna can learn from it at least.” Seven still continued to watch her and Kathryn began to chuckle. “You’re about to suggest sleep aren’t you?”

 

“It would appear you need it.” Seven said, a little stiffly but Kathryn knew it came from a place of caring.

 

“Maybe Seven.” She conceded, thinking that after that mishap she could use it.

 

“I will accompany you to your quarters.” Seven offered, standing.

 

Kathryn raised an eyebrow, “How could I refuse an offer like that?”

 

~~

 

It felt like she had only shut her eyes for ten minutes but she was back on the transporter pad again and Kathryn frowned.

 

“Next time Mister Kim I expect to be woken up for any developments.”

 

“Captain?”

 

She left him standing confused in the transporter room and commed the others.

 

~~

 

“I’m not sleeping.” Kathryn told her before Seven could even say anything.

 

“If you insist.” Seven said, a little too easily and Kathryn narrowed her eyes.

 

Tuvok was the one who came up with an idea that time, to turn Voyager’s frequency to the same pitch as the particles in the anomaly and thus force the particles around Kathryn to be the same as the ships and possibly break the loop.

 

It ended up choking her for no reason that she could find and she woke up clasping at her neck and white as a ghost.

 

~~

 

While she had ducked away to her quarters without a word after the meeting and resolutely insisting that that she was willing to try things again she had still needed a moments quiet.

 

The door chimed and Kathryn sighed.

 

“Come in.”

 

She had thought it might be Chakotay or even Tuvok or the Doctor come to check on her but instead Seven walked in.

 

“Something I can do for you?” Kathryn asked from where she sat on her couch, throwing down the padd she’d been typing at to try to list all the suggestions that she could remember from a previous loop.

 

Seven nodded curtly, walking over to where Kathryn’s bed was and standing next to it, turning to look at Kathryn.

 

She shook her head, “I suppose it doesn’t matter in any loop does it? You never give up Seven.”

 

“I am concerned about your wellbeing.” Seven insisted, “You seem…distracted.” At the same time she said it Seven ran a hand down her side to rest it at her hips and Kathryn pressed her lips together, wondering if perhaps Seven did know what she was doing when she stated these things after all.

 

At that thought Kathryn frowned, thinking over the past loops. “This is right.” She murmured.

 

At the same time she did there was a sudden light in her eyes, making her wince. Her name was being yelled by several people all at once in a cacophony of sound that made it hard to distinguish who they were.

 

There was a hand on her shoulder, trying to draw her attention and she glanced over to see Seven standing there but something about it seemed off because the slight pressure against her hand that she couldn’t even see felt more real to her.

 

“What’s going on?” Kathryn demanded, tearing herself away from Seven and taking a step back but the pressure at her hand didn’t dissipate.

 

“You are tired Captain,” Seven stated, “I believe you are experiencing hallucinations, I will call for the Doctor to help.” She reached for her commbadge before Kathryn could stop her but Kathryn turned to walk out the door.

 

When it opened however the Doctor was already there with a hypospray that he pressed into her neck and her eyes fluttered shut, she fell desperately trying to remember all this.

 

~~

 

“Remind me to get cushions on this transporter.” Kathryn said when she woke up, thoughts fading like a dream and she frowned, trying to recall what had happened in the last loop.

 

“Captain?” Harry asked, tilting his head.

 

“Nevermind Mister Kim,” She sighed, “Call the others. There’s something we need to discuss.”

 

~~

 

Seven didn’t suggest sleep that time Kathryn noticed, just placed a hand on Kathryn’s elbow and escorted her to her quarters much to Kathryn’s amusement.

 

Once there she seemed agitated and Kathryn frowned.

 

“Something wrong Seven?”

 

Seven nodded slowly and walked over to her, hesitating slightly but then leaned in, kissing Kathryn. It was chaste, something simple but Kathryn couldn’t remember how many times she had thought about doing that just that and she leaned in just a little before a sudden pull on her hand distracted her.

 

She blinked, taking a step back.

 

“Captain?” Seven asked and at the same time there was an echo, like another Seven was in the room but only Kathryn could hear her.

 

“What’s going?” She demanded, the memories of the last loop seeping back in and she looked around, wishing for a phaser.

 

“Everything is all right Kathryn.” Seven said and she narrowed her eyes even more.

 

“Who are you? What have you done to me?” Kathryn slowly stepped to the side, ready to attack if need be.

 

“We need you.” Seven stated. “We require your mind to thrive.”

 

“What are you?”

 

“We have no name for ourselves, we existed only in the anomaly until you beamed through it.”

 

Kathryn paused, her curiosity getting the best of her, “You can attach to beings while they’re being transported?” Briefly she called a report from the Enterprise about a situation where crewmembers were stuck in the transporter and appeared as creatures to other while their matter was being shifted. “But what do the loops do for all this?”

 

“We needed to devise a way to make you stay without question. We found this form more accepting to you and adapted it to suit our needs.” The being that looked like Seven said.

 

“Get her to the transporter.” Someone – B’Elanna? – was yelling.

 

“Remain with us Captain.” She knew that voice, undeniably Seven – her actual Seven.

 

“I get the feeling we’re not going to get the chance to talk much soon.” Kathryn hummed, “But maybe when I’m actually awake I’ll find a way to communicate with you again.”

 

That was all she got before there was a strange sensation on her body, the tingling that meant transportation and this time when Kathryn opened her eyes the whole senior staff was crowded around her.

 

“Captain are you feeling any residual energy from the creatures?” The Doctor was running a tricorder over her, intently studying it.

 

Kathryn sighed, “Ask me that in twenty four hours, Doctor.”

 

The comment meant nothing to him or the others but they smiled in relief that she appeared all right anyway.

 

~~

 

She was kept in the medbay under observation but when she continued to wake up there she breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Apparently B’Elanna had found that the creatures on her could be teleported off and while it had felt like days to her it had in fact only been hours.

 

As she was about to leave the medbay the doors opened, admitting Seven who came to stand next to her, hands clasped behind her back.

 

“I have come to accompany you to your quarters.” Seven said and Kathryn chuckled at the similarities.

 

“Lead on then,” Kathryn gestured towards the door and followed after Seven until they reached her quarters. When they got there Seven hesitated and Kathryn didn’t, inviting her in.

 

“You know the creatures kept using your form to try to get me to stay.” Kathryn told her, sitting down on her couch after replicating coffee and marveling that she hadn’t noticed the differences sooner.

 

“An interesting tactic.” The ex-borg drone took a seat next to her. “Was there a reason my form was chosen.”

 

Kathryn smiled into her cup, hiding it from Seven. “It was the most tempting.” She said and Seven blinked.

 

“I’m afraid I don’t understand Captain.” Seven stated and Kathryn reached over to pat her knee.

 

“I know Seven.” She assured her, “Let’s just say I valued you enough that the offer to stay was considered.”

 

Seven paused, considering the information, “I am…glad…that you chose otherwise.”

 

“Me too.” Kathryn admitted, taking another sip of coffee and then setting the cup down. “I wouldn’t want to actually miss this.”

 

“Miss what?”

 

“Our real moments spent together.” Kathryn said and smiled widely.

 

“I place a high value on them as well,” Seven didn’t quite smile but Kathryn knew she was tempted to, “Had our situations been reversed I no doubt would have been tempted by your form as well.”

 

Kathryn opened her mouth to make a joke about that and saw something that could have been mischief in Seven’s eyes.

 

“Why Seven, are you teasing me?” Kathryn laughed and Seven had the graces to look a little embarrassed.

 

“The Borg do not ‘tease’, Captain.” Seven informed her, making her laugh harder.

 

“Of course, my mistake.” How she had ever mistaken the Seven in her mind for the real thing was a wonder, a telling of how badly she cherished the other woman.

 

“What were your experiences like?” Seven asked quietly once the moment had passed.

 

“Enlightening.” Kathryn said drily, falling back on the couch. “Right now I’d just like to sleep.”

 

“Of course,” Seven stood and turned to leave but hesitated, looking over at Kathryn. “Would you prefer the company? I have been told that after traumatizing events that company is preferred by humans.”

 

Kathryn wouldn’t have exactly called the events traumatizing but she could see that Seven was giving her and easy offer.

 

“Another time Seven.” She reached out to loosely grip Seven’s hand in thanks and realized when Seven pressed back that it had been her hand she’d felt and smiled. “Thank you.”

 

Seven left after another slow glance, ensuring Kathryn was okay and leaving her to her thoughts.

 

Thoughts about the kiss with the false Seven and if she and the real one were heading closer down that path. She looked over at the door where Seven had just left and closed her eyes with a smile.

 

If there was one path she wouldn’t mind taking over and over again it’d be that one and it was clear her mind knew it.


End file.
